


A Rain Check on a Windy Evening

by R_Armchair



Category: Final Fantasy XIII Series, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Graduation, Platonic or Shippy- you choose, Podfic, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes, Post-Canon, endings and beginnings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:34:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26623723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/R_Armchair/pseuds/R_Armchair
Summary: Hope meets with Lightning in the new world, but isn't quite ready to part.
Relationships: Hope Estheim & Lightning, Hope Estheim/Lightning
Comments: 5
Kudos: 21





	A Rain Check on a Windy Evening

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yinuj](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yinuj/gifts).



> If you rather listen to the audio, mosey on over to [Dropbox](https://www.dropbox.com/s/f003q6c0u2v10it/A%20Rain%20Check%20on%20a%20Windy%20Evening.mp3?dl=0).

Hope and Lightning arrived at the quaint bed and breakfast where she was staying. The greying paint peeled in strips from the wooden siding. Ivies had done their own damage, splintering the wood off the porch posts. Their leaves rustled in the cool breeze; a hanging chime tinkled along.

Lightning began climbing the entry steps. Hope placed his hand on the newel post, letting the wood carry his weight. The foundation gave way and the post leaned to the side. She turned at the creaking.

“Is there something that can’t wait until tomorrow?” she asked.

“Every time it becomes a little more difficult to see you go. I should be used to this by now.” He adjusted his ascot. The printed button up he wore had obviously been picked out for him. His leather boots were scuff free, but not in the way that they'd been polished for the occasion. They were new. His khaki pants had stiff, starch lines that hadn’t once creased since he’d met her at the restaurant.

Laughter from an occupied room filtered from a window overhead. Hope slicked back his hair and let his hand stay against his neck.

“During dinner, when we were talking about Serah’s graduation…you got this look on your face.”

Lightning cocked an eyebrow.

“It’s stupid.” He sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. Then he paused. “That’s the look. You know exactly what I’m thinking about. Don’t you?”

“I’m not psychic,” she said, trying to relax her face. “Maybe there’s something you want to tell me.” She placed her hand on the railing, but with a gentler touch than he had.

“I only told Serah about when you spoke to me during my sleep in the time capsule.” The muscles in his arms tensed, pulling the short sleeves taut. “And after living as long as I have, my memory isn’t the greatest. But,” he said, watching a small grin form on Lightning’s face. “You actually visited me twice didn’t you? It was such a specific visit. It didn’t relate to our struggle to save the future. It was just a simple little visit.” Finally pulling his hand from his pocket, he tucked her hair behind her ear. The loose pink strands had been catching on her eyelashes with the wind.

Before the paradoxes. Before the chaos. Before all of the things that would determine Hope’s future, he’d been falling into a restless sleep. He’d still been young, but in the midst of a growth spurt that pained his limbs. Along with it had come the more intangible hurts of leaving childhood behind.

He and his father had celebrated the evening with cake and a meager selection of presents. Had the fall never had happened, Bartholomew and Nora would’ve most likely sent Hope on an expensive vacation. Instead, Hope had curled up alone in his bed on the night of his graduation. He’d tried to find the positives. Matriculating through the Academy had meant that he’d stayed within the system. There had been very little difference between secondary and university. The same campus, different professors. His classmates would also remain the same save those who’d left for field study.

He’d been looking forward to this day, but now it’d held very little for him. He’d had no one to celebrate it with.

Wishing for the pain to dissipate, he’d shaken out his leg. Only when his limb had extended past the blanket, had he noticed that the pain was absent. The room had become silent, the sounds of his father’s television no longer seeping beneath the door frame.

“Congrats, kid.”

Hope hadn’t heard that voice in years, but he’d recognized it instantly. Frantically he’d thrown off his covers and raced to the light switch. Even when warm light flooded the room, he’d still been very much alone.

“It’ll be easier this way,” Lightning had said, from somewhere and nowhere simultaneously. “You looked like you needed some cheering up.”

With a sigh, Hope had flicked off the switch and returned to his bed. “I’m doing just fine. I can handle myself.”

“Life isn’t about going it alone. You taught me that. We all have our place, Hope.”

There had been a tingle on his cheek, as if someone had held it gently.

“There are going to be plenty of moments like these. Weddings, graduations, birth, awards. There are so many beautiful things in this world. And you need to enjoy them. You need to look forward to them. Burying yourself like a crab in the sand is no way to live your life.”

“But what if I’ve chosen the wrong path? What if I’m just doing things because it’s what I’m told? How am I expected to decide my future when I don’t even know what I want _right now_?”

The tingle had returned but to his forehead this time. Lightning’s chuckle had blown his bangs about. 

“No one is ever certain of their decisions one hundred percent of the time. But if you really need it, I’ll remind you when you’re on the right path. Even if you take a detour.”

Hope had stuck his hand out, hoping to find hers. “Now that you’re here, it’s generally polite to give a graduate a gift.”

“I can’t give you anything physical,” she’d answered. He’d been certain she’d been rolling her eyes.

“I’m going to ask you for something. Not today. Because it’s not something I can accept right now. Not as directionless as things feel. Nor could I possibly ask it of you. But I’m taking a rain check.”

Then, Hope had awoken warm in his bed the next morning. He’d kept the secret of her visit to himself. He’d even kept it _from_ himself. In all of Bhunivelze’s tampering, in the rewritten histories he’d given via the phantom, not once had this memory been touched. Hope assumed it had to do with the nature of dreams. Why bother with something imagined when Bhunivelze had centuries of actual material to work with?

“You never did take that rain check,” Lightning said, acknowledging Hope’s question. “What did you plan on asking for?”

“How many nights did you book here?” he asked, gesturing to the dilapidated bed and breakfast.

“Just tonight and tomorrow.”

“Then you plan on heading home?” There was a lilt to his voice.

“Well, I don’t have to. I over packed. Serah suggested sweaters knowing full well it’s hot as hell here.” Lightning dramatically flapped her overshirt to billow air against her stomach.

“In a month, fall frosts will set it in. So while the summer is hot, it won’t always be. And with winter, we have snow that doesn’t fall in the city.”

“What are you getting at?”

Hope took her hand and held it in his. “Don’t leave me behind again.” He felt her fingers slip between his. “I’m asking you to stay with me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Just a wee little short story, written as a thank you for my beta.
> 
> Although we're here in September already, I guess this also goes out retroactively to all my 2020 grads. This wasn't the experience you planned for, but I wish you the best of luck.  
> -R


End file.
